Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences
Mathematical Sciences Department
MAT321-Numerical Methods
1. a) Derive the Newton’s Raphson’s formula for finding the zero of a function.
b) Write the pseudo-code for the algorithm for performing the Newton’s iteration to
approximate one root of f .
2. Consider f (x) = x3 − 3x + 2. Take p0 = −2.6 and p1 = −2.4.
a) Show that the secant iteration formula for f can be expressed as:
p2k pk−1 + pk p2k−1 − 2
pk+1 = g(pk , pk−1 ) = 2
pk + pk pk−1 + p2k−1 − 3
.
b) Use the secant method to find the root p = −2 for f .
3. You are making a bookshelf to carry books that range from 8 21 inches to 11 inches
in height and would take up 29 inches of space along the length. The material is
wood having a Young’s Modulus of 3.667 Msi , thickness of 38 inches and width of
12 inches. You want to find the maximum vertical deflection of the bookshelf. The
vertical deflection of the shelf is given by
v(x) = 0.42493 × 10−4 x3 − 0.13533 × 10−8 x5 − 0.66722 × 10−6 x4 − 0.018507,
where x is the position along the length of the beam. Hence to find the maximum
dv
deflection we need to find where f (x) = dx = 0 and conduct the second derivative test.
The equation that gives the position x where the deflection is maximum is given by
−0.67665 × 10−8 x4 − 0.26689 × 10−5 x3 + 0.12748 × 10−3 x2 − 0.018507 = 0.
Use the bisection method of finding roots of equations to find the position x where
the deflection is maximum. Conduct three iterations to estimate the root of the above
equation. Find the absolute relative approximate error at the end of each iteration
and the number of significant digits at least correct at the end of each iteration.
4. Assume that f ∈ C n+1 [a, b] and that x0 , x1 , · · · , xn ∈ [a, b] are n+1 nodes. If x ∈ [a, b],
then
f (x) = Pn (x) + En (x),
1
where Pn (x) is a polynomial that can be used to approximate f (x), i.e., f (x) ≈ Pn (x) =
Xn
f (xk )Ln,k (x). Show that the error term En (x) has the form:
k=0
(x − x0 )(x − x1 ) · · · (x − xn )f (n+1) (c)
En (x) = .
(n + 1)!
5. Let f (x) = x3 − 4x. Construct the divided difference table based on the nodes x0 =
1, x1 = 2, · · · , x5 = 6, and find the Newton polynomial P3 (x) based on x0 , x1 , x3 .
6. Construct a Hermite interpolating polynomial for the following data.
x f (x) f ′ (x)
0.1 -0.29004996 -2.8019975
0.2 -0.56079734 -2.6159201
0.3 -0.81401972 -2.973438
7. Let f (x) = xx .
a) Find the quadratic Lagrange polynomial P2 (x) using the nodes x0 = 1, x1 = 1.25
and x2 = 1.5.
b) Use the polynomial from (a) to estimate the average value of f (x) over the interval
[1, 1.5].
8. Consider the Lagrange coefficient polynomials L2,k (x) that are used for quadratic in-
terpolation at the nodes x0 , x1 , and x2 . Define g(x) = L2,0 (x) + L2,1 (x) + L2,2 (x) − 1.
a) Show that g is a polynomial of degree ≤ 2.
b) Show that g(xk ) = 0 for k = 0, 1, 2.
9. Thermistors are used to measure the temperature of bodies. Thermistors are based on
materials’ change in resistance with temperature. To measure temperature, manufac-
turers provide you with a temperature vs. resistance calibration curve. If you measure
resistance, you can find the temperature. A manufacturer of thermistors makes several
observations with a thermistor, which are given in Table.
R(ohm) T(◦ C)
1101.0 25.113
911.3 30.131
636.0 40.120
451.1 50.128
Determine the temperature corresponding to 754.8 ohms using a second order La-
grange polynomial. Find the absolute relative approximate error for the second order
polynomial approximation.
2
10. To find how much heat is required to bring a kettle of water to its boiling point, you
are asked to calculate the specific heat of water at 61◦ C . The specific heat of water is
given as a function of time in Table.
◦ J
T( C) Specific heat, Cp kg−◦ C
22 4181
42 4179
52 4186
82 4199
100 4217
Determine the value of the specific heat at T = 61◦ C using Newton’s divided difference
method of interpolation and a second order polynomial. Find the absolute relative
approximate error for the second order polynomial approximation.
